England and Wales currently have the lowest penalties in Europe for such offences. So it’s difficult to imagine an objection to increasing these penalties.

Some background explanation is important here: on Fridays, Parliament debates legislation introduced by MPs who are not part of the government – i.e. backbench MPs. Parliament sits for about five hours. If any legislation has not had a vote taken in that time, it goes to the back of the queue for debate, effectively meaning it will never be debated. If a bill has not been debated, it could still progress – unless one or more MPs raises an objection. The reasons for objecting could be simple or complicated, relating to the content of the bill – but any objecting MP does not have to explain. They simply have to ‘object’, and the bill does not progress.

Back to last Friday. Two bills had already been debated, and Parliament had run out of time for a debate. So, it came to the animal cruelty bills:

“Animal Fighting (Sentencing) Bill”, went the announcement

“Object”, came the response

And again for the next bill:

“Animal Cruelty (Sentencing) Bill”

“Object”

That was all it took. The objection came from the backbenches, a lone voice who decided that the bill should progress no further. Here was legislation which has the support of MPs from all parties. It is supported by not only the League, but also the RSPCA, the Dog’s Trust, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, and the Blue Cross. A Minister from Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has acknowledged that courts say sentences available for dog fighting aren’t strong enough. The cross-party Commons Environment Committee has said that sentences aren’t strong enough.

And now animal abusers will continue to get away with their crimes. In Northern Ireland, when the smirking perpetrators of horrific acts of animal cruelty walked out of court, it sparked the Northern Ireland Executive to strengthen sentences to five years.

Anna Turley, Labour MP for Redcar in North Yorkshire, was moved to begin a campaign on this following an appalling case of animal abuse in her constituency. How many people, like in those cases, are getting away with a slap on the wrist for terrible crimes?

That was all it took for the bill to go no further, but it does not mark the end of the battle for tougher sentences. We don’t know who shouted it, but, unlike Laurence J Peters, we are not looking to attribute blame. Instead, we are beginning a battle – for Cupcake. Vulnerable animals like Cupcake cannot seek justice for themselves, so we do it for them. And we will not stop until we secure that justice.

A call for the National Trust to stop allowing hunts on its land, amid concerns that animals are still being chased and killed under the guide of 'trail' hunting, will be heard at more than 20 sites nationwide.

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As a team, we share the same passion – to stop animal cruelty in the name of sport. We are a tight knit team and we work hard within a fun, relaxed environment. We also offer something many employers don’t – an office full of friendly dogs!

Hunting was banned in England and Wales in 2004, but the law has never been properly enforced, and attempts to weaken or repeal it continue. The hunting law in Scotland is weak, and hunting is still legal in Northern Ireland.

Hurting and killing animals for ‘sport’ is one of the principal causes of animal cruelty in the UK: tens of millions suffer and die each year for ‘leisure’ activities. We’re here to protect those animals.

The Hunting Act 2004 is the law which bans chasing wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales – this basically means that fox hunting, deer hunting, hare hunting, hare coursing and mink hunting are all illegal, as they all are cruel sports based on dogs chasing wild mammals.

Bullfighting is perhaps the most well known spectator “sport” involving the killing of animals for entertainment. It has already been banned in most countries, but each year tens of thousands of bulls are maimed, tortured and killed for entertainment in Spain, Portugal, France, Colombia, Mexico, USA, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru.

The hidden side of greyhound racing includes dogs kept for long periods in lonely kennels, painful injuries from racing and training, illness and neglect. Shockingly, thousands of surplus dogs die or disappear every year. The League believes dogs should not suffer or die for entertainment or for the profit of the dog racing industry.